Make your daddy dead. Real dead. – God.
Aleshea Harris’ Is God Is, her directorial debut, is an explosive, radical entry into the upper echelon of Neo-Blaxploitation films. Blaxploitation is a genre defined as low to mid-budget Black films made by and for the entertainment of Black audiences. The genre was a response to the racist portrayals and caricatures of Black culture and people in cinema during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Is God Is blends the defining heartbeats of Blaxploitation with Southern Gothic and Western notes. It is poetry in motion, and it is an epic tale of revenge, redemption, and rage that leaves you wishing it never ends.
Trigger Warning: This review references and discusses domestic violence.
Is God Is is based on the award-winning play by Aleshea Harris, of the same title. The film follows the cross-country trek of twin sisters, Racine the Rough One (Kara Young) and Anaia the Quiet One (Mallori Johnson), who have been tasked with enacting revenge on their deadbeat father (Sterling K. Brown) — at the behest of God herself (Vivica A. Fox).
Our introduction to the twins comes in black and white flashback form, as young Racine and Anaia sit on a bench together. Several kids play and walk past the twins; some gasp in disgust at Anaia’s face and call her ugly. Young Racine doesn’t miss a beat and grabs a toy bat from the ground and attacks the bullies. Racine comforts her sister as red blemishes Anaia’s pristine white dress.
Flash forward, the twins live, sleep, eat, and work together. Racine and Anaia do everything together, even icing each other’s burns. They are traumabonded, but also have no one else in the world but each other. The twins have suffered from a life-threatening fire – Anaia’s face is severely scarred and burned, as is her arm and hand, and Racine’s hand is burned as well.
The chemistry of Young and Johnson was incredible to watch, as they embraced one another tightly at points, but also eventually bickered and fought as many sisters do. Harris expertly depicted twin telepathy, in which Racine and Anaia communicated with no words, using only their mind and mannerisms. The text on screen in these moments was exceptional – as she could’ve just had them speak, but instead went with this inventive representation of finishing each other’s sentences. Both Racine and Anaia felt lived in – they did not seem like caricatures of twins – and even though we get their juxtaposing demeanors, Harris’s direction and both Young and Johnson’s performances make the twin dynamic work.
Their inciting incident arrives when a letter from their estranged mama summons them to her because she’s dying. Thus, their grand journey begins where they must meet God. As Racine and Anaia travel to the South, there are playful shots of their excitement at each “Welcome to ___” state signage. The twins pose confidently in front of the car and even look directly at the audience, inviting us to join them on the quest.
When Racine and Anaia arrive at God’s house, a physical green lacy curtain and a spiritual veil are lifted – they meet their mother, in her highest (no pun intended) form. Ruby the God sits up on a pedestal-like bed, while several women braid her hair. Harris skillfully lit this scene in a way that all the light in the room comes from God, and it illuminates her. She dons a skin-colored beaded jumpsuit, and her face is even more severely burned than Anaia’s.
God narrates the gruesome sequence of what happened to them that night they were burned. Fox commands this scene with a melancholy, anger, and grief that is incomprehensible — the twins’ father had choked her unconscious, poured gasoline on her, and then proceeded to set her on fire while he made the girls watch. This is the heaviest scene in the film. Harris does not make us watch what happens to Ruby and the twins, but we are instead forced to follow The Monster as he lights a cigarette nonchalantly and looks out the back door. The blood-curdling screams of Ruby and the twins fill the diegetic sound and space – and it is utterly gut-wrenching to experience. The sound mixing and cinematography ensured this difficult scene’s implications.
Racine and Anaia are distraught at this news, and God asks them to kill their father to avenge her and themselves. They are both trepidatious at first, and then Ruby unveils the rest of her body. Steam rises off her lower half – Anaia and Racine are forced to look at the unbearable carnage – Harris does right to avoid showing God’s legs, further emphasizing how horrid the physical trauma was. The twins agree to get revenge, and God details her instructions and who they must find to get to him.
Racine and Anaia follow the crumbs of souls who lead them to their father. Enter Divine The Healer (Erika Alexander), Chuck Hall a.k.a The Lawyer (Mykelti Williamson), Angie The New Wife (Janelle Monáe), and her sons, Scotch (Xavier Mills) and Riley (Justen Ross). Each person is one who has protected or continues to protect their father from his past violence and abuse against women. The path is not an easy one for the twins, as Anaia comes to terms with killing and her sister’s more violent nature, and Racine reassures her that “this is destiny type shit.” Every person was a villain of some metric to fight for the final boss – their deadbeat father.
Throughout their journey, Harris paints a distinct image of the South — it contrasts with the urban settings that many Blaxploitation films reside in. The draping of the willows over Anaia and Racine evokes something deeper — a sense of fantasy as they discuss their plans under the shade of these luscious trees. Each setting feels like everywhere and nowhere at once. The aforementioned state signage denotes we are somewhere in the South, but the expansive nature of the cinematography makes it feel liminal. There are open fields, rural spaces, deserted buildings; it is what a rural Southern space emits – no sidewalks, just outstretched land for miles.
Is God Is employs one of Blaxploitation’s most celebrated features — our protagonists are powerful, multi-faceted, Black women in the style of Pam Grier’s performance in Foxy Brown (1974) and Coffy (1973). Grier is infamous for these roles, as her performance created a refreshing depiction for Black women in cinema at the time — as leading ladies in action, not side characters or solely love interests. Grier’s characters were starkly representative of the anti-authoritarian and justice-seeking themes of Blaxploitation. Is God Is captures these notes and expands further on them, especially through Racine’s characterization and her dialogue — “God don’t want nothin’ but blood.” Even though Anaia is the quiet one, she eventually embodies the fierceness of her twin as well.
Harris’s direction and dialogue for each character felt fully developed and multi-dimensional, and there was maybe a world where this sort of ensemble wouldn’t work – if not in the right hands. My theater cracked up at Alexander’s delivery of “You ain’t shit, DEVIL!” which is wholly representative of Divine the Healer. Is God Is hits comedic beats throughout the tale – whether it’s in a character’s introduction or delivery, there is humor throughout the trauma. Each person’s motivation was clear – even when it came to the twin boys, who had limited (alive) screen time.
The twin boys acted as foils to Anaia and Racine, which expertly showed the life they could’ve had, as Racine so poignantly points out. This theme of misogyny and violence against Black women is evident as their father actively chose to burn and leave his daughters, yet he stuck around and eventually grieved his boys.
Perhaps the casting of Sterling K. Brown as the father was the best choice for the film. Brown has often played sympathetic characters, ones of higher moral standing, and his performance in Is God Is showcases his range admirably. Harris’s choice to omit his face and instead utilize his body language and mannerisms worked perfectly to represent the kind of villain he was. It also built tension. I was terrified of him whenever he was on screen.
This community that rallies around The Monster instead of the twins and Ruby is emblematic of a culture of oppression, misogyny, and violence against Black women – this is a culture that is a part of our current reality. Harris portrays how a man’s destructive behavior and abuse can get swept under the rug easily. The twins’ father just walks away from the family he destroyed with no accountability or repercussions. In fact, this is all too common – and the ending that we don’t usually get is women finally beating their oppressors and abusers.
Harris’s debut handles these themes so well that some have criticized this representation of a Black abusive father. Is God Is is not a film that cares to sanitize abuse and the repercussions of it — and these experiences must not be misrepresented. According to The Status of Black Women in the United States, “more than 40 percent of Black women experience physical violence by an intimate partner during their lifetimes (41.2 percent), compared with 31.5 percent of all women.” It is clear there is an ongoing epidemic of violence against Black women; thus, why should Harris shy away from this?
In fact, this film should be celebrated tenfold for providing an honest representation of oppression and domestic violence – and for creating a reality where Black women avenge themselves and enact justice. In this world of Racine and Anaia, they are following the orders of God – I don’t see anything wrong with that. There are no police in this film, and that felt incredibly intentional from Harris, as they are not justice bringers but oppressors as well. Is God Is demands you to cling to your eyes to the screen and see the violence in Black women’s reality.
Is God Is boldly asserts that Black women can and should be in charge of their destiny in the face of trauma and survival. It is a story about the shockwaves and aftermath of violence, and in the end of it all, revenge is served on a scorching hot platter. However, to quote Chuck Hall, “Revenge is a double-edged sword,” leading to a shocking finale. It is not only symbolic of the cycles of abuse and how they end, but also how revenge is complicated and messy. Is God Is is a phenomenal debut from Aleshea Harris, and I can’t wait to see what she makes next.
Review Courtesy of Mariana Fabian
Feature Image Credit to Amazon MGM Studios